Get off the road horn blast from passing artic driver!

[MikeF]

Today I cycled a very short stretch of the A26 Crowborough-Tunbridge Wells road. This is a fairly new stretch of road, but in its construction no provision whatsever was made for cyclists so it's not pleasant. I was at about this place http://goo.gl/maps/QRZjN. There wasn't any traffic ahead (unlike the Google view) and nothing at all coming in the opposite direction, so essentially the road was clear for about half a mile ahead.
Artic driver sounded his horn as he approached me from behind. Whilst passing he continuously sounded the horn. Yes his offside wheels were on the double white lines, but visibility was so good and the road so free ahead that it wouldn't have mattered at all if he had completely crossed them. I couldn't see the number or firm name of the vehicle, so I cannot complain to anyone about this appalling driving or attitude.

In contrast I soon turned into Forge Rd http://goo.gl/maps/yxfCTwhich is narrow and less than two car widths wide in places, and a car driver coming towards me stopped and waved me to go past.

[gaz]

I can't see any justification for the artic' driver's actions.

In case you are unaware the cycle provision starts about 100 yards past your streetview location. At the end of the lay-by cycles can continue on a shared use path emerging here. I have no knowledge of the current state of repair of the path nor it's desirability as an alternative to the A road for that short stretch.

Edit: IIRC this was a Mid-Late 90's "improvement" of the road.

[MikeF]

I can't see any justification for the artic' driver's actions.

In case you are unaware the cycle provision starts about 100 yards past your streetview location. At the end of the lay-by cycles can continue on a shared use path emerging here. I have no knowledge of the current state of repair of the path nor it's desirability as an alternative to the A road for that short stretch.

Thanks Gaz. That's where I was heading for. It's a usable path and cuts out a very short stretch of that horrible road. Anything's better than nothing! However for a relatively newly constructed A26 there could have been a cycle link at least from Eridge Stn to Sandhill Lane for NCN 21 to follow to Rotherfield, which is where I'd been. The existing NCN 21 from Eridge is unrideable on a mountain bike as well as leading in the wrong direction to start with.

[captain offensive]

I followed the Ncn21 from eridge to rotherfiled last year as its also the Avenue Verte route. I did manage to make it along the cra**y path that they send you on but it was certainly one of the least fun parts of the whole London to Paris ride.

[iviehoff]

A friend of mine reckons she suffered permanent ear damage in one ear as a result of a lorry driver blasting the horn just as he passed. Bit difficult to sue, as apparently this particular form of ear damage takes several years to take effect, and thus difficult to associate it with any specific loud noise event. But she reckons this was the loudest/most painful single event, and the damage can be from such a single event, and it is the correct side.